William Kalan in his military uniform from World War Two. William Kalan receives the Legion of Honor medal from the French Consulate at his home in Walnut Creek on December 29th, 2009.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

William Kalan in his military uniform from World War Two. William...

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William Kalan (top row in the center) with his crew and their plane from World War II.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

William Kalan (top row in the center) with his crew and their plane...

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An undated picture of Andre and Yvonne Roussay. The couple took in and cared for William Kalan after his plane crashed in German-occupied France. Andre was the leader of a French-resistance group ini the area.

Photo: Courtesy Of William Kalan

An undated picture of Andre and Yvonne Roussay. The couple took in...

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A picture of some of the photos that William Kalan used for false documentations.

Photo: Courtesy Of William Kalan

A picture of some of the photos that William Kalan used for false...

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William Kalan gets a glass of Champagne after receving the Legion of Honor medal. William Kalan receives the Legion of Honor medal from the French Consulate at his home in Walnut Creek on December 29th, 2009.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

William Kalan gets a glass of Champagne after receving the Legion...

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Jackson Wells takes a close look at the Legion of Honor medal on William Kalan's jacket. William Kalan receives the Legion of Honor medal from the French Consulate at his home in Walnut Creek on December 29th, 2009.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

Jackson Wells takes a close look at the Legion of Honor medal on...

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William Kalan gets kiss from Jennifer Lieds after receiving his medal. William Kalan receives the Legion of Honor medal from the French Consulate at his home in Walnut Creek.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

William Kalan gets kiss from Jennifer Lieds after receiving his...

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Odette LePendu fixes William Kalan's Legion of Honor medal. She has the Legion of Medal as well.

The government of France awarded the Legion of Honor on Tuesday to a Bay Area man who was shot down over occupied France during World War II and then joined up with a secret French underground to fight the Germans.

William Kalan, 91, a retired advertising executive who lives in the Rossmoor retirement community in Walnut Creek, received France's highest decoration from Pierre-Francois Mourier, the French consul general in San Francisco, during a ceremony at Rossmoor.

Mourier called Kalan "an exemplary human being."

"You left your country, your family and friends to fight at the risk of your life," he said.

He pinned Kalan with the Legion of Honor - a five-pointed Maltese cross with a red ribbon - then embraced the old hero. "Your sacrifice and that of your comrades has not been in vain," Mourier said.

Kalan got a standing ovation from about 100 family members and friends.

Kalan had seldom discussed his wartime adventures after he returned home, but Tuesday he told his war story slowly and softly: how he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps when he was 24 and learned to be a pilot, though he had never before flown a plane of any description. A year later, he was the pilot of a B-24 Liberator bomber on a mission over occupied France.

Bailing out

On June 22, 1944, German anti-aircraft fire knocked out one of his plane's four engines. Kalan took the crippled plane out of formation, hoping to get away. But then German fighters hit his bomber and knocked out two more engines. With only one engine left, Kalan ordered his nine crew members to bail out and then jumped, too.

Just before he hit the ground, he saw his plane swerve and miss a huge white building, which turned out to be the Chateau de Chambord, one of France's Renaissance treasures. Inside, the French had hidden priceless objects from the Louvre, including the Mona Lisa.

Later, when he learned what was in the chateau, he was amazed.

"I almost killed the 'Mona Lisa,' " he said.

At the time, though, he had to hide from German patrols, saving his own life. He climbed a tree and hid there for two days.

"I was lucky," he said. "The Germans looked but they didn't look up."

Later, a French couple, Yvonne and Andre Roussay, took him in. The Roussays lived with their family in the village of Huisseau-sur-Cosson, in the Loire Valley, and, as it turned out, Andre Roussay was the head of an underground resistance group.

The family risked their lives to save Kalan. Death was the usual German punishment for harboring Allied airmen.

The underground

Kalan then risked his own life by working in disguise with the underground. "We were harassing the Germans, watched the roads, kept track of their movements," he said. Once they ambushed a German truck convoy, and Kalan shot the driver of the lead truck.

"I dropped a lot of bombs and probably killed people," he said. But coming face-to-face with the soldier he'd shot was different. "It is not the same," he said softly, "not the same."

Eventually, he and his co-pilot, Kenneth Klemstine, who was hidden in a nearby village, managed to hook up with U.S. troops and their war was over.

After many years, Kalan got in touch with the Roussays. They are dead now, but their youngest son, William Roussay, was on hand at Rossmoor to see Kalan get his medal. William Roussay was named for Kalan.

The crowd, mostly older people from the retirement community, drank Champagne and toasted Kalan, a hero after all those years.

"This generation is fading away very, very fast," said Mourier. "It is important to remember what they did. It is important for us - for France - and for America."